Violent clashes erupted in Calais after police started clearing part of the Jungle

A
youth throws a stone as smoke and flames rise from a burning
makeshift shelter in protest against the partial dismantlement of
the camp for migrants called the "jungle", in Calais, northern
France, February 29, 2016.REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

CALAIS, France (Reuters) - Clashes
with police broke out on Monday as work got underway to clear
part of the shanty town outside Calais in northern France where migrants are
trying to reach Britain.

Police fired tear gas around midday, about 150-200 migrants and
activists threw stones, and three makeshift shelters were set
ablaze, according to a Reuters photographer at the site.

Earlier, one person was arrested for trying to stop a group of
about 20 workers under heavy police protection from clearing the
site, where about 3,000 people are staying.

"The migrants are just going to run and hide in the woods and the
police are going to have to go after them," said activist
Francois Guennoc of the Auberge des Migrants migrant support
group.

Regional Prefect Fabienne Buccio had said the police presence was
needed because "extremists" could try to intimidate migrants into
turning down housing offers or buses to reception centers.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said last week that
authorities would work with humanitarian organizations to
relocate the migrants to a nearby park of converted shipping
containers or other reception centers around France.

On Thursday, a judge upheld a government order to evict migrants
living in the southern part of the camp, although a few makeshift
buildings of social importance such as a school and a theater are
to remain untouched.

Still
from a Euronews report on the clashes between police and migrants
in Calais.Euronews

Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty, from Afghanistan
to Syria, have converged on the northern port over the past year.

Many attempt to climb illegally onto trains using the Channel
Tunnel or into lorries heading to Britain where they hope to
settle. Their presence has led to tension with some of the local
population and to a permanent police deployment.

Earlier on Monday at another European migrant crisis flashpoint,
Macedonian police also fired tear gas to disperse hundreds who
stormed the border from Greece. The migrants had torn down a gate
as frustrations boiled over at restrictions imposed on people
moving through the Balkans.